I bought a Nagoya brand NA-771 HT antenna from eBay for $7, and I'm really impressed with it. It's a flexible whip, about 15" long. I figured it would be better than the stock antenna on my little Baofeng UV-5RA, but it is REALLY better. In fact, I can now hit repeaters with the Baofeng that I can't hit with my Yaesu VX-7R. It even picks up broadcast FM pretty well, whereas the stock antenna was pretty much useless for this. If you have one of the little Chinese HT's, spend the money and pick one of these up, they're worth every penny.
Ray, thanks for posting this. I have a FT-60R and have been living with the factory rubber duck. I didn't know about these antennas, but they get good reviews on eHam so I just ordered one (male SMA).
Make sure to post how it works on your FT-60R. I might pick up another one for my VX-7R.
Will do. I have a roll up slim jim pinned to my office wall. I'll compare it to the stock duck and the Nagoya.
Do you know if this work for the Baofeng UV-3R (the smaller HT)?
Quote from: White Tiger on November 21, 2012, 06:05:48 AM
Do you know if this work for the Baofeng UV-3R (the smaller HT)?
It's all about the connector on the radio. Most HTs use the SMA connector but some are male and some female. I had to hunt for the male for my FT-60R.
Quote from: White Tiger on November 21, 2012, 06:05:48 AM
Do you know if this work for the Baofeng UV-3R (the smaller HT)?
Yeah, just look for the SMA Female version. You can find a ton of them on ebay:
http://tinyurl.com/af87e7x (http://tinyurl.com/af87e7x)
Quote from: raybiker73 on November 21, 2012, 11:09:57 AM
Quote from: White Tiger on November 21, 2012, 06:05:48 AM
Do you know if this works for the Baofeng UV-3R (the smaller HT)?
Yeah, just look for the SMA Female version. You can find a ton of them on ebay:
http://tinyurl.com/af87e7x (http://tinyurl.com/af87e7x)
Thanks Ray, located, and bought one, for a little more than $7 dollars!
I'll let you know the performance, as by then I should have read, understood, and
USED this to make a contact!
Just a note for other new "ham's" - an HT this small requires some technical understanding - and 2m operation is a LOT more difficult than HF!
Ask me how I know...!
Quote from: White Tiger on November 22, 2012, 12:30:04 AM
Just a note for other new "ham's" - an HT this small requires some technical understanding - and 2m operation is a LOT more difficult than HF!
Ask me how I know...!
A wise old ham I know put it this way. A computer has a 20" screen and a keyboard with about 90 keys. An HT is a computer with a 2" screen and a keyboard with about 20 keys.
Quote from: cockpitbob on November 22, 2012, 09:50:34 AM
Quote from: White Tiger on November 22, 2012, 12:30:04 AM
Just a note for other new "ham's" - an HT this small requires some technical understanding - and 2m operation is a LOT more difficult than HF!
Ask me how I know...!
A wise old ham I know put it this way. A computer has a 20" screen and a keyboard with about 90 keys. An HT is a computer with a 2" screen and a keyboard with about 20 keys.
Perfect analogy!
Quote from: cockpitbob on November 11, 2012, 09:23:53 PM
Will do. I have a roll up slim jim pinned to my office wall. I'll compare it to the stock duck and the Nagoya.
I got my NA771SM with the male SMA connector for my Yaesu FT-60R. Tonight I went outside to compare antennas during a 2M club net. I'm dissapointed with the Nagoya antenna. At 15.5" long it is more than twice as long as the stock Yaesu 7" duck that came with my HT. The 2 antennas performed identically. As I moved around they both bounced between S5 and S6. For reference, I hung my Ed fong shirt-pocket roll-up J-pole (http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6376)on a branch 7' up. It did 3 S-units better at S9, but it usually does.
So, the Nagoya is a good value for a replacement antenna, but it isn't an upgrade from the Yaesu 7" duck and since it's longer I'm sticking with the duck.
Sorry to hear this, hoping the results are better from my Baofeng UV-3R...I'll let you know!
Quote from: cockpitbob on November 25, 2012, 10:28:33 PM
For reference, I hung my Ed fong shirt-pocket roll-up J-pole (http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6376)on a branch 7' up. It did 3 S-units better at S9, but it usually does.
I bought a 2m antenna from him and asked some questions during the process. Dr Fong replied, answered my questions, including a response to an invitation to,check out our site here at Radio Preppers (...said he would), and enclosed a handwritten note thanking me for supporting his students (whom, he says, actually does the tuning of the antenna's)!
Quote from: White Tiger on November 26, 2012, 02:20:24 AM
Quote from: cockpitbob on November 25, 2012, 10:28:33 PM
For reference, I hung my Ed fong shirt-pocket roll-up J-pole (http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6376)on a branch 7' up. It did 3 S-units better at S9, but it usually does.
I bought a 2m antenna from him and asked some questions during the process. Dr Fong replied, answered my questions, including a response to an invitation to,check out our site here at Radio Preppers (...said he would), and enclosed a handwritten note thanking me for supporting his students (whom, he says, actually does the tuning of the antenna's)!
Yeah, Ed Fong is an awesome down to earth guy. When I bought his PVC pipe base station antenna and the shirt-pocket roll-up he also answered questions and chatted by email. People like him make Ham radio (or any hobby) great.
I'm surprised it do at least a little better than a 'standard' rubber duck. Just for grins, try adding a 'rat tail' to that HT and see what happens. Still wouldn't expect any huge differeces but 'some'.
- Paul
Good idea about the rat tail. I'll give that a try and report back.
Quote from: cockpitbob on November 26, 2012, 03:52:53 PM
Good idea about the rat tail. I'll give that a try and report back.
Have you tried the rat tail yet? My NA-771 is due in next week, wondering if you've seen some improvement?
I'll give it a try tonight while some local nets are happening.
The Nagoya may be worth it for Baofeng owners. There's a good chance that it's better than the Baofeng antenna, and that Yaesu just makes an excellent 7" duck.
I repeated my antenna tests. this time with a rat tail, and I'm impressed with rat tails!!! For a rat tail I cut a piece of 22AWG stranded, insulated wire to 19.5" and stripped 1". I wrapped the 1" of bare wire around the SMA connector before screwing the antenna on. In use I made sure it hung down.
I compared the stock 7" Yaesu duck, the Nagoya and the shirt-pocket roll-up J-pole. Naturally I didn't use the rat tail with the J-pole. Here's the S-meter results from a somewhat distant 2M repeater:
ANTENNA NO RAT WITH RAT
Yaesu S5 S8 to S9+20
Nagoya S5 S8 to S9+20
J-pole S8
With the rat there was a bit more sensitivity to where outside I was standing(S-meter moving up and down as I walked around), but wholy-cow, what a difference. All I can say is that I'm a rat tail convert. That magic little piece of wire is now in my HT travel bag.
Quote from: cockpitbob on December 02, 2012, 10:04:11 PM
I repeated my antenna tests. this time with a rat tail, and I'm impressed with rat tails!!! For a rat tail I cut a piece of 22AWG stranded, insulated wire to 19.5" and stripped 1". I wrapped the 1" of bare wire and around the SMA connector before screwing the antenna on. In use I made sure it hung down.
I compared the stock 7" Yaesu duck, the Nagoya and the shirt-pocket roll-up J-pole. Naturally I didn't use the rat tail with the J-pole. Here's the S-meter results from a somewhat distant 2M repeater:
ANTENNA NO RAT WITH RAT
Yaesu S5 S8 to S9+20
Nagoya S5 S8 to S9+20
J-pole S8
With the rat there was a bit more sensitivity to where outside I was standing(S-meter moving up and down as I walked around), but wholy-cow, what a difference. All I can say is that I'm a rat tail convert. That magic little piece of wire is now in my HT travel bag.
excellent news - thanks for the follow up! Sounds like I'll be a covert too!
Sorry to reopen an old thread, but it seemed more appropriate than starting a new one. I just received one of the Nagoya 771 antennas and put it on my Yaesu HT and thought others might be interested. The antenna is about twice as long as the standard rubber duck and much thinner and more flexible. To my ear, with no test instruments, it seems to be an improvement, giving clear signals where I might have gotten static with the stock antenna. I like it as a cheap upgrade to my HT.
Be careful to get the right one for your radio so you don't wind up looking at the wrong connection.
Hi Geek,
Now just add a rat tail and you'll really be able to hit the repeaters.
Also, I think not starting a new thread is the right thing to do.
--Bob
I have some wire and some terminals, but the wire seems very thin and the terminals are the crush type. I am wondering if I really need to solder the connection or should just give it a shot with a pair of pliers.
Go for it. The worst that could happen is the wire will pull out. I used a small crush terminal and put it under one of the belt clip screws. I think I used 24AWG wire, which is pretty skinny.
I couldn't get the terminal to fit under the belt clip screw, so I tried just wrapping the bare end of the wire around the screw and tightened the screw. Again with no instruments other than my imagination and my ears I tried out the radio. It seemed louder, as though I had turned the volume up a notch or two. I let the scanner rotate through the 2m band and picked up Oswego, NY. That's a bit further than I have previously picked up and is about 250 miles as the crow flies. I would have expected at least one hill in the way as well.
I confess I don't understand why this works, but I am sold on the fact it does.
Quote from: Geek on April 20, 2013, 09:27:35 PMI confess I don't understand why this works, but I am sold on the fact it does.
Geek, the reason it works is actually pretty simple - the ducky is only half an antenna. Handhelds rely on capacitive coupling from the radio's body to your hand to provide the "counterpoise", or missing antenna ground, which only sorta works. Adding a rat tail forms a dipole antenna between the rat tail and the ducky, which greatly improves performance. It is the same principle as using an HF vertical with and without ground radials.
Wally
Should the length of wire be related to the length of the antenna? For instance, if I switch from the rubber duck to the Nagoya, which is longer, do I need a longer rat tail?
Quote from: Geek on April 21, 2013, 08:03:39 AM
Should the length of wire be related to the length of the antenna? For instance, if I switch from the rubber duck to the Nagoya, which is longer, do I need a longer rat tail?
The tail should be 1/4 wavelength at the operating frequency, regardless of which antenna.
With the rat tail you basically have a resonant dipole with the duck being one end and the rat tail being the other. Internally the duck is loaded (coiled) so it is physically shorter than 1/4wave but electrically it is the right length to resonate at 2M frequencies. I put a piece of wire on my antenna analyzer and trimmed it for resonance at 146MHz and it was 18.5" long, so that's how long my tails are. Theory says it should be 19.2" but the insulation on the wire slows things down a tiny bit.
So on the 2m band my 19" rat tail is fine. Cool. If I go to another band I need to worry about it.
Good thread! I ordered one of the NA-771's for my FT60 last week. I figure for the $9 I paid for it, even if it's junk I'm not out too much. Hopefully it improves my ability to hit some of the more distant repeaters around here. I'm in a tough location for hitting repeaters with an HT. Mobile or base is no problem, but with an HT I can BARELY hit the machines. Signal reports aren't great and I have a tough time holding the machines.
PS: Ed Fong is a good guy! I have one of his PVC J-poles for my base 2m. He's very helpful, and his simple little J-pole works great.
Quote from: Quietguy on April 21, 2013, 12:12:22 AMHandhelds rely on capacitive coupling from the radio's body to your hand to provide the "counterpoise", or missing antenna ground, which only sorta works. Adding a rat tail forms a dipole antenna between the rat tail and the ducky, which greatly improves performance.
Wally, Does this mean performance would be even poorer if the HT were used with an external mike/speaker, with no body contact to the HT? If so, that would be an even greater reason to use a rat tail...
Quote from: s2man on May 08, 2013, 01:02:20 PMWally, Does this mean performance would be even poorer if the HT were used with an external mike/speaker, with no body contact to the HT?
Nice catch - yes it does, unless you use a reasonable substitute. Setting the HT on the metal roof of a vehicle and using an external speaker/mic can improve performance. The metal roof acts as a ground plane, like with a mag-mount antenna.
Wally
<spooky music> I look into the crystal ball. I see a rat tail in my future...
Can I assume a rat tail would be worthless with aforementioned mag-mount roof antenna? Or, more important, would it be detrimental?
If I were using a mag-mount antenna on the roof of a vehicle, I wouldn't bother with a rat-tail. In that case you have removed the rubber ducky from the radio and connected a coax cable however long that leads to the mag-mount antenna. You want the counterpoise (the missing half of a dipole) to be at the junction of the feed line (coax) and the antenna. The metal roof serves as the counterpoise to the vertical whip of the mag-mount. Ditto if you place a mag-mount on top of your refrigerator, metal cookie baking sheet, file cabinet or whatever.
Wally
Quote from: s2man on May 08, 2013, 08:33:47 PM
<spooky music> I look into the crystal ball. I see a rat tail in my future...
Can I assume a rat tail would be worthless with aforementioned mag-mount roof antenna? Or, more important, would it be detrimental?
You would assume correct. In that case the roof is your rat tail.
Just got one! Seems to be well built. I will be posting graphs for 2m as soon as I get my antenna analyser..
Gil.
I've got 2 rat tails on my Baofeng. 19inches for 2m and 6.5inches for 70cm - it definitely improves both bands.
The rat tail indeed shows the most improvement. I did not see any difference by changing antennas...
Gil.
I don't save rat tails. I bury them with the rest of the rat's carcass. :)
;D Of course.. My grandfather used to trap muskrats. He would get money for the fur, and a few cents from the city for the tail!
Make sure you cut your tails at 19" ;)
Gil.
Quote from: raybiker73 on November 11, 2012, 03:18:13 AM
I bought a Nagoya brand NA-771 HT antenna from eBay for $7, and I'm really impressed with it. It's a flexible whip, about 15" long. I figured it would be better than the stock antenna on my little Baofeng UV-5RA, but it is REALLY better. In fact, I can now hit repeaters with the Baofeng that I can't hit with my Yaesu VX-7R. It even picks up broadcast FM pretty well, whereas the stock antenna was pretty much useless for this. If you have one of the little Chinese HT's, spend the money and pick one of these up, they're worth every penny.
Nagoya 771 for 7$? Are you sure its genuine? There are a lot of fakes around. I got the 771 too, but paid much more (got mine via baofengtech.com).
Check this out also: http://www.nagoya.com.tw/en/news-31478/%E3%80%8Elatest-updated%E3%80%8FHow-to-identify-the-genuine-and-fake-antenna.html
I bought this Retevis antenna past month, It runs really well.
Mira esto en eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/302563853704
Enviado desde mi SM-T230 mediante Tapatalk
Quote from: Jon_Garfio on February 28, 2018, 11:13:52 AM
I bought this Retevis antenna past month, It runs really well.
Mira esto en eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/302563853704
Enviado desde mi SM-T230 mediante Tapatalk
Thanks, just bought one with SMA male connector...
Gil
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk